Tom Barrett 'interesting ways' series

1. 38 Interesting Ways* to Use Search
Engines in the Classroom
by practicalowl *and tips
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 License.

2. #1 - Tag Galaxy Image Search
For an alternative image search
use Tag Galaxy.
It provides search results from
the tags added to Flickr images.
It offers a student a visual
representation of their results in
the form of a photo sphere.
Each tag belongs to a galaxy of
related tags helping students find Esustain08 Tag Galaxy 1 by vivevans
other content.
@tombarrett

3. #2 - Check expressions in MFL
Go to http://www.google.fr/ or
http://fr.yahoo.com/
type in your phrase
check Pages: France (google)
or français (yahoo) and type
in your phrase.
Thousands of results including
Simple example • Rigolus - La newsletter du 16/09/2008
I wonder if the French say as Pourquoi le soleil, c'est du beau temps,puislavous pelez...pendant deuxsoleil, ça
vous rend rouge comme un homard,
et pluie du Le coup de
red as a lobster when they semaines. ...
www.rigolus.com/archives/2008_09_16.htm - En cache
get sunburnt and good reading material
Let’s type in
Rouge homard soleil
@kaymcmeekin

4. #3 - Boolean Search Made Easy
A well constructed boolean A short and simple expanation
search is the way to improve of boolean search logic is
your search results. available on the Boolify Help
page.
Boolify helps students
understand their web search
by visually demonstrating the
logic of their search. As
students add or remove the
jigsaw piece qualifiers ‘and’,
‘or’ and ‘not’ the changes in
their search results appear at
the bottom of the search
screen.
@janning

5. #4 - Librarians do it by numbers
Have you been to the library
and found a book on your
topic?
Do you know its Dewey
number?
Visit BUBL to find websites
catalogued by the Dewey
Decimal System.
@janning

6. #6 - Quintura for Kids
Quintura for Kids
Grown-ups might like to check out Quintura's embeddable
search results tag clouds - a great way to share results.
@janning

7. #8 - Cooliris for image & video searches
Cooliris is a free plugin for
your web browser to turn
searches into an interactive
scrolling image wall. You can
zoom in, out, left or right.
It's great on a IWB - use the
blue bar & arrows at the
bottom of the screen.
Choose to search Google
images, Flickr, Youtube &
more.
@mrmackenzie

8. #9 - Google Wonder Wheel - HAS
GONE!
Encourage your students to
see a regular Google search
in a different way.
From the standard results
page, click "More Options"
under the Google logo.
Select "Wonder Wheel".
Choosing different words from Image by Ivan Walsh
the wheel allows you to drill
down into different combined @tombarrett
searches too.

9. #5 - Kidsclick
'Kid-friendly' sites in a 'kid-friendly' directory.
Check out the Worlds of Web Searching for lesson plans.
The new KidsClick site will be available soon.
@janning

10. #7 - Create Biographies
Use http://www.123people.com/ and http://www.pipl.com/ to
create valid and extensive searches for biographies.
@4goggas

11. #10 - Visuwords
One of the most popular ways
to search for synonyms in my
class.
Visuwords creates a word
map of connections and word
families from your search.
A fluid and fantastic tool -
here are some more detailed
ways to use it in the
classroom.
@tombarrett

12. #12 - Google Timelines
Generate a timeline of
dated Google search
results...
A screenshot of the
timeline could make for
a nice mystery starter...
Click on parts of the
timeline to zoom into a
specific time period.

13. #11 - Soungle - search engine for sound
Could be useful as a
stimulus for writing.
www.soungle.com
1. Create a story, mood,
setting etc through sounds
from soungle etc
2. Put the sounds into a
medium such as PPT.
3. Add writing or 'talk' story
4. Perform out loud!

14. #13 - Guess the search term
Type in a search term into your
favourite image search engine
and view the thumbnails.
Scroll down so you can't see
the search term (or take a
screenshot and crop) and show
the class the thumbnails. They
have to guess what you put in SHARING
originally.
This doesn't really work with Google as they show the
word under each image so try bing.com
@stuartridout

15. #14 - Calculator & Converter
Google Tip:
You can use Google for much
more than searching. It is a
quick way to perform
calculations and conversions.
Try typing
My class find it more useful
than looking for the calculator 3.8 * 27.4
application or finding a 16 oz in g
conversion site as they can 100 c in f
type straight into the Google 20 gbp in usd
search on the browser
toolbar.
@stuartridout

16. #15 - Use the Help & Tutorials
• Choose your search engine to suit your search needs
• Try the Noodle Tools Interactive version
Look for links to support
documents on the Search
engine site.
(often at the bottom of the
page - and in small print )
An example: Google
printable pdf posters
@janning

17. #16 - Thumbshots
Use Thumbshots
ranking, compare how
different search engines
bring up different sites
for the same keywords.
The results show up differences
and could lead to classroom
discussions on reasons behind
this - commercial, popularity by Matt Brett
etc.
Dianne McKenzie

18. #17 - Google for non-tech teachers
This is a cheat sheet that can
download here: Google Cheat
be laminated and hung near
sheet
the class computer or pod.
It is a guide that is colour co-
ordinated for basic to
advanced users.
Use it as a treasure hunt
resource for children and
teachers to understand
search operators.
@glennmalcolm

19. #18 - Safe search
Kidzui
This is a downloadable flash-
based browser that must be
verified by parents via email prior
to pupil use.
A class setup with one user name
etc returns online activity to the
teacher whenever they log in -
time, URL, popularity etc.
Built by teachers and parents
only trusted sites/pages are
allowed (including youtube pages
- last count 2 million+) download here: Kidzui
@glennmalcolm

20. #19 - Search Cube
search-cube is a visual search
engine that presents web search
results in a unique, three-
dimensional cube interface. It
shows previews of up to ninety-
six websites, videos and images.
Flip the cube and use the visual
interface to get discussion
underway, especially for art and
design topics.
Use your keyboard arrows to flip the cube,
then Mouse over images for summaries!
http://www.search-cube.com/
@heyjudeonline

21. #20 - Spezify
Spezify is a search tool
presenting results from a large
number of websites in different
visual ways.
With a visual presentation of
ideas, and links across the top of
the page to help narrow down the
search, students are able to learn
about the impact of key words in
searching immediately and
visually.
@heyjudeonline
http://www.spezify.com/

22. #21 - WolframAlpha
WolframAlpha is a very powerful mathematical
and data search engine. But you can get too much
information output from it. So try these two very
simple activities.
1) Try typing this in:
“Where am I?”
Then click on the map data to see!
Discuss how it could “know that?”
2) Explore some simple AI with the search box -
“talk” to Wolfram Alpha – even simple questions
asked differently get different responses! Try:
Hello
Who are you?
How are you? http://www.wolframalpha.com
What are you?
Do you sleep? Wolfram Alpha has some other tools that can
Who is your dad? be used as a basis for interesting lessons. Click on
the link below to see what the WolframAlpha Tones
Again – discuss how / why you get this output? Generator can do in a cross curricular activity.
Remember keep questions VERY simple. http://www.l4l.co.uk/?p=472
@eyebeams

23. #22 - WatchKnow (Video
Search)
http://www.watchknow.org/
WatchKnow is a collaborative, open
project of educational videos designed to
be searchable, reliable, and conductive to
better learning for all.
(Still in Beta)
@lismiss

24. #23 - Google Alerts
This search tool was recently Learners could set up some alerts:
described by Ollie Bray (LTS) as
allowing people to search the future • Prior to commencing a research project
web. Along with RSS, this changes • to keep up-to-date on college/uni focus
many conceptions of the web around • to track what is being written about them
sifting what is already there. • to find out what is going on in their area
• as part of their computing/ICT studies
Type in a term, choose a search type • to be better and more quickly informed.
and how often you wish to be notified
of new web content featuring your
term, and provide an email address to
receive the intro to content and a link.
I use this to keep embedded delicious
'virtual libraries' updated on websites
that I run eg ACTS. Go to
http://www.google.com/alerts and
complete this form.
@parslad

25. #24 - eyePlorer
Creative way for students to explore a new topic
in a simple way
•Type in topic to research
•eyePlorer scans the web for facts
and puts them into a colour wheel.
•Click on eyeSpots for more facts
related to topic -common facts are
arranged in categories
•Click on border to focus on one
category
Students can drag and drop facts
onto an eyePlorer notebook to
save for later use. @lismiss

26. #25 - Google Custom Search
If you want to focus your
students' searching on http://www.google.com/coop/cse/
specific sites use this tool to
build your own search Or even create a search engine
engine. based on your websites and
resources.
Additionally you can let
students contribute and help
build the sites available to be
searched. @itmadesimple

27. #26 - Making Google Custom Search Safe
Putting a Google Custom
Search on your blog or VLE
can be useful: You can make
it default to Safe Search and
if you are a school you can
remove the ads. You could
also use it to build a themed
search engine as described
on the previous page to put
on a topic page. Children with SEN can also
It's simple: benefit from using Google
Custom Search as you can
Link to instructions present them with a much
smaller set of search results.
@hgjohn

28. #27 DearComputer Shows full original images
instead of the small thumbnails for Google Image Search.
I often use this Goggle
Image Ripper to capture
images for the IWB as it
puts all the images in
their full size on the page.
Then I use the camera
tool to capture the
images or I right-click on
them to copy and paste
them straight onto my
flipchart page
@lismiss

29. #28 - Creative Commons
Search http://search.creativecommons.org
Whether finding images to
use in their own work or to
help with other online
projects, our class use
Creative Commons Search.
Once you have introduced
the idea of licensing and
correct usage, this is a great
search tool to help children
find permissible resources. by François @ Edito.qc.ca
@tombarrett

30. #29 - DiscoverEd - ccLearn
http://discovered.creativecommons.org/search/
A BETA search tool from Creative
Commons that helps you to discover
open educational resources (OER).
DiscoverEd is an aggregated search
engine including OER Commons
and LessonPlanz.com amongst
others.
by judy_breck
Tagged results show Curator, Edu
Level, Licensing and Language.
@tombarrett

31. #30 - Compfight - CC Image Search
As long as Flickr isn't blocked
in your area, then Compfight Tip: Once the children have
is one of the easiest ways to found the image they want in
find Creative Commons Compfight I teach them to
attributed images for blogs, copy the Creative Commons
web pages and link from the resulting Flickr
presentations. page to use as their image
attribution.
Set the search engine to look
for Creative Commons Only. @hgjohn

32. #31 - 10x10 News Search
10x10 displays 100 images of
breaking news, updated every
hour from; BBC World News,
Reuters and the New York Times.
Clicking on an image gives you a
link to the news story.
You can go back in time to any
date and hour after 2004 to see
what was happening then.
@theokk

33. Shahi is a visual dictionary that
#32 - Shahi combines Wiktionary content with
Flickr images.
A useful combination of types of
information in this search engine.
The definition is offered with a range
of thumbnails of the search term from
Flickr (+Google +Yahoo)
A simple way to support literacy for
different children in the class.
Each new search term loads on top
of the previous. In this way you can
see a history of searches - useful for
language activities in the classroom.
http://blachan.com/shahi/
@tombarrett

34. #33 - Search Engine for Younger
Children
http://www.kidrex.org/
A simple search engine that is easy to read the
results and safe search is automatically turned on!
@teggie19

35. #34 - Google Squared
Create a table that compares
a range of specifications for a
subject with Google Squared:
http://www.google.com/squar
ed
Type into the search bar and
compare things like:
• Australian primeministers
• Chemical elements
• Canadian states
It is simple to edit and
remove unwanted data or
add extra specifications. Eugene de Gouw

36. #35 - GoogleGoogleGoogleGoogle
LINK >> http://googlegooglegooglegoogle.com/
Run 4 Google searches in the same window. Close the frames so you
only have two, or three open. Each frame can actually be loaded with
any URL - use the little green arrow.
@tombarrett

37. #36 - Scirus
LINK >> http://www.scirus.com/
A comprehensive scientific research tool, useful at high
school and tertiary levels
@crgalvin

38. #37-Qwiki
http://www.qwiki.com/
Turn research into a search experience using Qwiki!
Qwiki generates a narrated movie mashup of images, video,
audio, and text about your topic. You can turn the subtitles on
and off. Qwiki will also suggest related keywords and qwikis.
You can share and embed qwikis easily.

39. #38 Use agoogleaday to set up a
starter
Agoogleaday.com poses a
daily question. Once students
hit the start button they are
timed and must use the
search engine to find the
correct answer to a question.
There is no correct way of
searching only the correct
answer!
Once kids are done, you can
share how they conducted their
searches to share best practice in @ali_mulla
effeciency. @LearnICTit

40. If you would like to:
• Contribute your ideas and tips to the
presentation.
• Let me know how you have used the resource.
• Get in touch.
You can email me or I am @tombarrett on
Twitter
If you add a tip (or even if you don't) please
tweet about it and the link so more people
can contribute.
I have created a page for all Image: ‘Sharing‘
of the Interesting Ways
presentations on my blog. Thanks for helping
Tom Barrett
The whole family in one
place :-) Have you seen Maths Maps
yet?